Expressing concern over the meaningless deadlines for achieving targets in education and the unacceptably high dropout rates in schools, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] on Monday stressed on "greater openness, flexibility and accountability" in the functioning of educational administration at all levels.

"Our country must become fully literate. I do not want to specify a time frame for this, as we have done so many times. Slogans like Health for All, Education for All and such like have been given before a deadlines set. By 1980,  by 1990, by 2000 and so on. We give dates that have lost meaning. We need education for all today", he said.

The Prime Minister was addressing the first meeting of the Governing Council of the National Mission for 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan', an integrated flagship programme to attain universal elementary education in the country.

In his address, Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh [Images] said that while SSA has significantly improved access to schooling, "the official statistics are, however, also showing that the dropout rate is disturbing."

"Of every 100 children enrolled in Class I, only 47 reach class VIII, which is the terminal year of elementary schooling. This low 'survival rate' needs to be squarely addressed", he said.

Describing the dropout rate as "unacceptably high", the Prime Minister said, "The reasons for this include the lack of adequate facilities, large scale absenteeism of teachers and inadequate supervision by local authorities".